'When I was little I used to dream about being a dancer or that I could fly and that I would learn to speak the language of the animals in the forest or that of the most dramatic actor. With the click of a finger I’ve found a way to make these things come true'

Sten Lex is a duo of artists from Rome and Taranto in Italy. Both born in 1982, they work together since 2000. Considered as the pioneers of urban stencil in Italy, their work is mostly the product of individual pathways. Mixture of stencil and op art, Sten Lex’s monumental works are made ​​from thousands of strips of paper and compose portraits of people that both artists have themselves photographed, found among family albums or that are merely anonymous people.

In a statement about their work Sten Lex share about their influences. “Impressionism was mainly characterised by the contrasts between the lights and shades that would fix the painter's feelings on the canvas. And, painting en plein air was particularly important to the impressionists. We were certainly influenced by the impressionist movement, but our main influences from a stylistic standpoint are the silk-screen printing and the pixel-based printing. Thanks to the software, we have been able to create some works we could not have done in any other way. In the past, we used to transform digital graphics in paintings by means of the stencils, but now we start from drawings and sketches and we try to make them similar to their original technique, only with more impulsiveness and by trying to erase any digital remainder.”

In 2008, Sten Lex showed at the Banksy Cans Festival bringing together 39 international artists including Prism, Blek Le Rat, Faile, Vhils, Vexta. It was in 2009 that Sten Lex have developed their technique combining collage, stencil and op art, creating unique works both poetic and powerful. In 2012, the Italian publishing house Drago published a complete monography about their work.

Conor Harrington is from Cork in Ireland. His work is an incredibly successful collusion between 'fine' art and 'street' techniques.

According to Conor himself, central to his oil canvasses is "the male figure, referring to the masculinity of urban culture". The men in Conor's paintings allude to the not necessarily heroic, but stoic and pensive male of the modernist painters; however the pieces are plastered with post-modern graffito flourishes in a pertinent clash of styles - "I'm interested in the dynamics between opposing elements" says the artist. Whilst both the male figures and abstract elements of the work are unarguably contemporary, the emotions they transmit are timeless, if currently under-rated - dignity, courage and a quiet sense of duty to oneself and those around us. At a time when men are accused of being somehow redundant within society Conor's work is an intelligent and modest reminder of their positive emotional contribution. It also shows that graff doesn't have to shock - or be soppy - to have substance.

Erik on Erik: My name is Erik JonesI'm a freelance artistI work primarily in Gallery work and comics, comic covers to be exact.I've Illustrated the covers for the series The Unknown, Nola and illustrated the cover to the comic book adaptation to Jennifer's Body, published by BOOM! Studios. I've done work for Marvel comics, Warner Brothers, Draftfcb, and many more.My focus is drawing the female form and painting sexy, powerful woman with a provocative look.

Jesse was born in San Juan Capistrano, California in 1987. He has been drawing since before he can remember, which was really only much-less-than-the-blink-of-an-eye ago on the geologic time scale. He now resides in San Francisco, California where his dignity remains intact for now.

Idler is an all caps, modular display type family meant to be used for big, bold lettering. Idler’s two “main” weights (Idler Detail and Idler Plain) can be used effectively as single colored layers on their own, but the typeface’s true potential is realized when the user layers the “shaded” weights along with the main weights to create a colorful 3D shading effect. Here’s a nifty video to show you exactly how to use idler…